1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an artificial fur. More particularly, the present invention relates to an artificial fur which is highly improved in the appearance and touch of rising hairs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Genuine furs such as mink, fox, raccoon, and sable are considered high-grade materials for the production of fashion garments because of their excellent appearance, luster, and touch. Various technical researches and proposals have heretofore been made with a view to developing artificial furs having properties similar to those of genuine furs. Relatively advanced new techniques concerning artificial furs are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 49-116370, 55-137244, and 56-58067. Even according to these techniques, however, it is very difficult to duplicate the excellent appearance and touch of genuine furs, and no satisfactory results have been obtained.
The inventors have made some effective proposals. For example, they proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,611 an artificial fur having a structure in which "under fur" and "guard hairs" are formed by pile fibers fixed tightly to a ground construction and the top end portions of the guard hairs are gradually tapered, and a method for producing this fur from a pile cloth. In this artificial fur, a plurality of "guard hair fibers" and a plurality of "under fur fibers" are gathered at the roots thereof in the form of yarns. These roots are integrally connected to the ground construction. According to the technique proposed in this U.S. patent, however, pile fiber bundles having the tops separated from one another and comprising of "guard hair fibers" and "under fur fibers" are formed from pile yarns of the pile cloth. For this purpose, fibers not tightly held on the ground construction should be separated and removed by a raising operation. Accordingly, the ratio of utilization of the material cloth is low, and there is a risk of damage of pile fibers.
The inventors further researched the subject and found a method in which slippage removal of fibers constituting pile yarns is utilized, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 395,010. According to this method, the inventors succeeded in solving the problems of reduction of the ratio of utilization of fibers and damage of fibers, which are involved in the technique of U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,611. The fundamental idea of this method is to prepare an artificial fur by applying tension on pile yarns having a first group of fibers to be formed into guard hairs and a second group of shorter fibers to be formed into under fur, along the length of the pile yarns, to cause a slipping phenomenon among the pile yarn-constituting fibers without substantial breakage of the first group of fibers to be formed into guard hairs and to break the continuity of the pile yarns, whereby a pile cloth as the material for the manufacture of an artificial fur, which comprises a number of pile fiber bundles having root portions tightly held to the ground construction in the form of gathered yarn-like bundles and top end portions separated from one another, is prepared; subjecting the pile cloth to a brushing action to remove free fibers having root portions not tightly held to the ground construction and being mingled in the pile fiber bundles and to simultaneously open the top end portions of the fibers constituting the respective pile fiber bundles; and, if necessary, backing the ground construction with an adhesive such as a synthetic resin to ensure holding of the pile fibers by the ground construction.
In the artificial fur prepared according to this method, the first group of fibers to be formed into guard hairs have a larger fineness and a longer fiber length than the second group of fibers to be formed into under fur, and the top end portions of the first group of fibers are gradually thinned and sharpened. Accordingly, this artificial fur has an appearance and touch quite similar to those of a genuine fur. However, since the first and second groups of fibers constituting the pile yarns of the material pile fabric are homogeneous throughout the pile fabric, the appearance of the product fur is monotonous, and the product fur has an inferior aesthetic effect compared to genuine furs.
The inventors further researched this and found that if plural kinds of yarns differing in the properties are used as material pile yarns in preparing the above-mentioned material pile cloth, groups of pile fiber bundles differing in the properties are locally produced in the pile cloth and the aesthetic value of the appearance is enhanced.